Access to water is a basic human right needed to sustain life and health. It is an essential goal for all countries and civic bodies to provide safe and reliable piped water to every household. Though access to drinking water has improved in the past few years, yet the quality of water continues to be a major concern in India.

Governments give more priority to providing access to drinking water, than on improving the quality of water. According to the World Bank, 21% of communicable diseases in India are related to unsafe water and about 37.7 million Indians suffer from waterborne diseases, annually. According to an estimate, 1.5 million children die due to diarrhoea alone. An estimated 73 million working days are lost due to waterborne diseases, which add an economic burden worth $600 million, every year.

DA has adopted a science-market-policy framework, for providing access to safe drinking water to all. It innovates affordable and appropriate technology options that cater to physical, economic and ecological requirements. It has developed technologies, such as Jal TARA Filter and Arsenic Filter, so that people have access to safe drinking water.

DA works towards creating an ecosystem for supply of affordable and appropriate technologies to beneficiaries. Currently, DA is working to create demand and awareness for Aqua+ (Liquid Chlorine) in the slums of Delhi, through a multi-level marketing model and facilitating behaviour change communication activities for creating demand on ground. DA is also working with half a million people residing in Delhi’s slums, by creating demand for safe drinking water solutions.

There is a need to promote Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage (HWTS) methods. DA does policy research and advocacy for inclusion of these methods so that everyone has access to safe drinking water. It is promoting HWTS methods as an interim measure till the time, continuous supply of safe water can be ensured for all.

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One-third of the Indian population does not have access to clean drinking water, resulting in causing several waterborne diseases like cholera, typhoid,hepatitis-A, dysentery and diarrhoea. The solution to this lies in making people aware about the quality of water consumed by them and treatment methods that can be adopted to improve the water quality.

In India, despite increase in the access to drinking water have improved from 1900 to 2010 , water quality remains a major issue. Governments focus on access to water, while quality of water supplied not being much of a concern. This lack of concern over quality of water supplied results in increased health and economic burden. According to World Bank estimates, 21% of communicable diseases in India are related to unsafe water , with around 37.7 million Indians being affected by waterborne diseases annually. It is estimated that around 1.5 million children die due to diarrhoea alone. Estimated 73 million working days are lost due to waterborne disease each year, resulting in an estimated economic burden of $600 million a year.

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International NGO work is crucial in campaigns that mobilize citizens at the community and national levels. Currently, NGOs are critical contributors in global efforts to achieve the UNs Millennium Development Goals.